64 posts in this topic

So, I'm sitting here in Scotland and thinking about now having almost daily contact with people from all over the globe. Although members are predominantly from USA, there's also people from all parts of UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Italy etc. I thought it it be interesting if we could find something which in a couple of minutes gave a taste of our different heritages and cultures.

I turned to youtube and found this -

Look forward to seeing what others post.

edit

Don't know why embedding has been disabled. I'll put on the link and see if it allows you to click to youtube

This 2nd clip is from the opening of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004 (housed in temporary accommodation from 1999 to 2004 (watch out for Sean Connery!)

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I am an American. My family heritage is Swedish on my mom's side, Scottish (Watt) on my dad's side. My great grand parents lived in Sweden, moved to the US and met, married and settled with their 11 children. They didn't want their children (my grandmother) to learn the Swedish language and left everything in Sweden behind them. Having been raised by Swedish parents though, they ate like the Swedish, dressed like them and carried on mnay of their traditions. That carried on into the family. I didn't realize how much of an influence my roots had been until I moved to Europe myself in 1998. My grandmother came to visit me in Germany, where I still live, she fit right in in Europe. She loved the house dresses the ladies wear here and bought several. We visted the are her grandparents had lived, found family birth & death records at the local library. She had the opportunity to taste all the wonderful Swedish foods that her mom used to fix. It was a great expereince!

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My maternal side is German. There was a considerable migration from Germany/Poland in the mid to late 1900's primarily due to religious turmoil/persecution. My ancestors settled in an area of Queensland that is more moderate but similar in climate. They farmed and were cheese makers.

My paternal side is orginally Irish. Probably convicts in this blood line

It has only been recently that Australians have embraced convict heritage. There is a long history of denial.

Food in our family growing up was "meat and three veg". Bland and boiled and blah.

Fortunately Australia has now been seriously multi-culture. The Chinese have been here since before the English and thrived in the gold fever years. The Maltese/Greek/Italian migration post WW2 and the Vietnamese migration in 60-70s added, and still do add, a lot of flair.

These days Australia is pretty much the whole world

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I'm Canadian. My mom was born in Northern Ireland, and my dad in what is now Zambia, and they came to Canada after many years in South Africa. My mom's family goes back many generations in Northern Ireland but my dad's family has been quite nomatic. Before Zambia it was South Africa, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, England, and originally France. We have family in Ireland, South Africa and Australia, which is great for travelling because there's always someone to stay with!

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Really interesting replies! I suppose it's inevitable that Americans would have such rich and varied backgrounds. I'm chiefly Scottish but with a little bit of Irish on my paternal great-grandmother's side. So I'm solid celtic.

By the way, Samie, one of my friends here in Lanark is from Tennessee. I love her accent (especially the way she says vehicle).

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I find this topic particularly fascinating as the majority of us DXed with celiac are of European descent: Irish, Scottish, German, Swedish, English, Italian, Polish. The HLA DQ2 genes are prevalent in these cultures, including some in Africa. Pretty cool stuff, huh?

Could be why Australia has a high rate of celiac too??---as you suggest, you had an influx of immigrants throughout your rich history. BTW, I have always dreamed of visiting Australia! We keep returning to Ireland as we both love our grandparents' homeland (we've gone there 4 times) and it's time to venture elsewhere in the world.

Also, some have joked this is not Celiac Disease but "Celtic Disease" as this population seems to be impacted so deeply.

The recent research cites these cultures I listed as being the ones with the highest rate of celiac and the last cultures to adopt wheat as a staple grain. Seems somewhat ironic that Italians should be hit so deeply. My cousin's wife (also a celiac) who is Italian does not find this amusing at all. But it also explains why the Italians have been so persistent in researching celiac and testing toddlers before they trigger the disease, thereby possibly preventing further autoimmune disease. If only the US could get on board with this concept. We cannot even DX it properly!

I also find it intriguing that I got a DQ2 gene from both my Mom and my Dad --his parents emigrated from Armenia ---and that culture has its roots in the Middle East where bulgar wheat is used in almost everything. Makes one wonder if it isn't the genetically modified WHEAT of today that is the problem as well as having a genetic predisposition?? I know Dr. Fasano has suggested this and is conducting research as we speak.

Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked. Just find genetics and genealogy very interesting and fun to explore!

Thanks for thinking of this thread--it's fun to see everyone's "roots".

oh, almost forgot to add: I am an American of Armenian, Irish, German and French-Canadian descent. (those are the ones we know) All First or second generation. My Dad said I was a "mutt" and they make the best pets.

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My moms' side is mostly German. They came over right before the Civil War. Her dad has a bit of English probably. My dad's side his Mom's parents came from Ireland the other side has an English last name & may have come over on the Mayflower or shortly there after. We don't know alot about that side because his family disowned him for marrying a "Shanty Irish Catholic".

My hubs side (he doesn't have Celiac) but you can trace the mental illness in the female descendants from one famous one during Civil War times. It doesn't seem to affect the males. Just a wierd genetic tidbit for you all.

I don't have any family left, but I LOVE my family's history. Too bad there's no one to pass the info down to.

On my Mom's side I am German (Prussian) and English. My Mom's maternal great grandmother was supposedly a dutchess who was disowned when she fell in love with the stableboy. BUT, I found out that was just the story the family told to hide the truth! The truth is, my great great grandmother was Jewish, and she was disowned for marrying a gentile. I have been to the cemetary where she is buried, and although she is NEAR her other relatives who came to America, she is buried OUTSIDE THE FENCE! And her husband is buried in a different section of the cemetary, quite some distance away.

I could go on and on about that side of the family. My Mom's cousin had the whole family tree blocked out back to the 1400's, and he shared it with me before he died. He used to talk about some of these ancestors as if he'd known them. He was a treasure, and because my grandmother had a feud with the rest of her family, I never even met him until two weeks before my Mom died!

Mom's father was English, and the story is, his people came over on the Mayflower.

Daddy's side is just as interesting. His Mom was born in Poland and learned to speak English at school. It was her job to teach her parents English. In spite of her handicap when she first started school, she graduated as valedictorian of her class at the age of 16. (They actually had her skip a grade!)

Daddy's father was half Lakota Sioux. His father was half Lakota, and so was his Mom. The other half of his Mom was English, but I don't know much about my great grandfather. But what was REALLY cool was that when I moved here to South Dakota, I met a Lakota gentleman who knows of my family!!! We come from the Cheyenne River Reservation, and he even gave me a book that had pictures of my relatives. There was a picture of one lady whose maiden name was the same as mine, and she looks so much like my grandfather, there is no doubt we are related.

I have a family wall at my house with pictures of my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and two of my great-great grandmothers.

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My great grandmother (moms side) was from Scotland and her husband was from Norway. My mom's dad's family was from Germany. My father's father's family were early American pioneers from England, But their ancestors originated from France. we don't know about my dad's mom as she was adopted.

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I find this topic particularly fascinating as the majority of us DXed with celiac are of European descent: Irish, Scottish, German, Swedish, English, Italian, Polish. The HLA DQ2 genes are prevalent in these cultures, including some in Africa. Pretty cool stuff, huh?

Could be why Australia has a high rate of celiac too??---as you suggest, you had an influx of immigrants throughout your rich history. BTW, I have always dreamed of visiting Australia! We keep returning to Ireland as we both love our grandparents' homeland (we've gone there 4 times) and it's time to venture elsewhere in the world.

Also, some have joked this is not Celiac Disease but "Celtic Disease" as this population seems to be impacted so deeply.

The recent research cites these cultures I listed as being the ones with the highest rate of celiac and the last cultures to adopt wheat as a staple grain. Seems somewhat ironic that Italians should be hit so deeply. My cousin's wife (also a celiac) who is Italian does not find this amusing at all. But it also explains why the Italians have been so persistent in researching celiac and testing toddlers before they trigger the disease, thereby possibly preventing further autoimmune disease. If only the US could get on board with this concept. We cannot even DX it properly!

I also find it intriguing that I got a DQ2 gene from both my Mom and my Dad --his parents emigrated from Armenia ---and that culture has its roots in the Middle East where bulgar wheat is used in almost everything. Makes one wonder if it isn't the genetically modified WHEAT of today that is the problem as well as having a genetic predisposition?? I know Dr. Fasano has suggested this and is conducting research as we speak.

Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked. Just find genetics and genealogy very interesting and fun to explore!

Thanks for thinking of this thread--it's fun to see everyone's "roots".

oh, almost forgot to add: I am an American of Armenian, Irish, German and French-Canadian descent. First or second generation.

Off subject here, but where in Ireland do you like to visit? We are a bit particial to the Dingle Pennisula ourselves.

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OK - roots firmly in New Zealand (third generation), but I divide my time between US and NZ currently (acquired US citizenship through US hub and was long-term resident of CA).

Dad's ancestry English and Scottish, via northern Ireland before heading to NZ. (on First Four Ships - like the Mayflower in 1850) Mom Welsh through and through. Both families sheep farmers, I grew up on farms.

Hub (also celiac) English and Welsh on his mom's side, English (from the Mayflower ) and Scottish on his dad's side, with a bit of Native American thrown in somewhere because his hair is square instead of round and he has a native American blood type (B -)

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I'm American. Although we haven't been able to trace our family tree back on one side very far, we do know there is English, French, Irish, and Cherokee Indian.

I come from a pretty much non-traditional family. So much so that I sometimes go out of my way to try to be different.

The only real tradition that we have every year is leaving one Christmas decoration up. This is never intentional. It just sort of happens.

It started one year when I made wreaths for a Christmas auction at work. I got some cheap straw wreaths, covered them in white glue, then coated them with potpourri, let dry and decorated with ribbons and silk flowers. I had one wreath left so I decorated it with some leftover red ribbon that I had and then put it in my window, facing the street. At the time I lived above a dance studio on a very busy street.

It just so happened that the wreath was put in the window around Christmas time. I wasn't even thinking of Christmas when I did it. But then Christmas came and went and the wreath was still there.

A coworker began to complain. "You need to take down that Christmas wreath! It's after Christmas!" I found her complaint to be so silly that just to annoy her I left it up until the following year. By then it was looking ratty and I threw it out.

But since then every year there has been something we have forgotten to take down. Last year it was a nativity wall hanging. I think it is quite ugly but my daughter found it and wanted it. So I bought it for her. It's still up.

We're not going to be able to put up our big tree this year. Pity because it is so pretty. Last year we got a pastel pink one with hot pink lights. Daughter collects cat and ballerina ornaments. So it looked really nice.

We recently got two cats. A mom and daughter. Mom's name is Jazzy and the daughter is named Ballerina. Ballerina just turned one and she is climbing on everything and getting into everything. No doubt she would destroy the tree!

We just bought a little tree complete with decorations that we will try to put up. If the cat messes with it, it will be no big deal to take down. Now we won't have to lug the big tree and all the decorations into the house. We can just bring in the stockings.

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My hubs side (he doesn't have Celiac) but you can trace the mental illness in the female descendants from one famous one during Civil War times. It doesn't seem to affect the males. Just a wierd genetic tidbit for you all.

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Also, some have joked this is not Celiac Disease but "Celtic Disease" as this population seems to be impacted so deeply.

After I was diagnosed both of my parents got tested (blood test only, not genetic) and were negative. My dad then proudly declared, "well, she didn't get it from me!" Nice try dad! He may have been born in Africa but his roots are 100% European so we can't rule out that side of the family!

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Off subject here, but where in Ireland do you like to visit? We are a bit particial to the Dingle Pennisula ourselves.

Dingle is a big Fav, for sure! Galway is lovely-- as is Donegal. Kinsale. Wexford.

We have been all over the place. We drive ourselves through all the back roads and just "wing it". Our honeymoon was 17 counties in 17 days. Best time of my life! Went again with friends and with hub's Mom and aunt (I do not recommend traveling overseas with your MIL )

Dublin, believe it or not, is my least fav--too busy!!!. The only place still to get to is Northern Ireland. Hub's maternal side hails from there. His grandfather (paternal side) is from Tipperary. My great Gramma is from Country Clare.

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OK - roots firmly in New Zealand (third generation), but I divide my time between US and NZ currently (acquired US citizenship through US hub and was long-term resident of CA).

Dad's ancestry English and Scottish, via northern Ireland before heading to NZ. (on First Four Ships - like the Mayflower in 1850) Mom Welsh through and through. Both families sheep farmers, I grew up on farms.

Hub (also celiac) English and Welsh on his mom's side, English (from the Mayflower ) and Scottish on his dad's side, with a bit of Native American thrown in somewhere because his hair is square instead of round and he has a native American blood type (B -)

So, two more for Celtic disease

The theory holds water, perhaps

For some reason, I thought you were from Italy originally...!?

um, his hair is square, Shroomie??

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After I was diagnosed both of my parents got tested (blood test only, not genetic) and were negative. My dad then proudly declared, "well, she didn't get it from me!" Nice try dad! He may have been born in Africa but his roots are 100% European so we can't rule out that side of the family!

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